Erik Lehnsherr
Skills Erik's primary abilities lie in his magnetic manipulation, which gives him power over metal. When it is within a certain proximity, he can move it with his mind and shape it to his will, and use even bits of scrap metal as projectiles or other tools. The closer the metal in question is, the easier it is for him to gain control and manipulate it; objects which are farther than fifty or so yards require him to focus more clearly and interruptions or distractions of any sort can cause him to lose control rather easily. As a result of his abilities, he can also sense metal the same way a telepath may be able to sense a person's presence or mind. He could tell you what metal something is made of just by looking at it and knows when any of it is present. This ability has a more limited range, as objects farther away are harder for him to identify as opposed to them being up close or in his hands. He's intelligent and clever, strategically minded in some ways and more well-read than some might give him credit for. He's not as booksmart as he is streetsmart and peoplesmart. That isn't to say he's good with people, but rather he can read expressions and body language rather well and know whether or not the person he is interacting with is worth his time. For all his skills and knowledge, his glaring flaw is his lack of control. Strong emotions--anger and guilt, mostly--drive him and his powers, and he is quick to focus on those when using them. As a result, he can be far more chaotic than he really intends to be and make rather poor decisions. Personality On the surface, Erik is a serious, stoic, aloof man who could care less for the affairs of others. For the most part, this is actually very much true; he doesn't feel like he has time for anything other than the revenge that drives him. He doesn't make a habit of interacting with people unless they suit his own purposes. It is a very rare occasion when another person's troubles affect him enough to extend a helping hand, and even then there is a usually a deeper reason for his assistance. Upon meeting him, many would believe Erik is not an emotional person. This could not be farther from the truth, except his emotions are often very volatile, but vary depending on the situation. Certainly there are some subjects (his past, for example) that cause him to explode with the force of a nuclear bomb, while others don't affect him near as strongly, if at all. Surprisingly, he's the most dangerous when he feels numb and unaffected, because you can never be certain how he'll react. Negative as he might be, he finds some joy in simpler things; the sound of silence, calm weather, sunshine and strategy. He won't ever admit that he enjoys these things, least of all to someone he isn't well acquainted with. He spends much of his downtime reading, and if he had a partner he would certainly not object to a game of chess (or any sort of board game, so long as it requires some form of strategy). Getting close to and befriending Erik is unsurprisingly difficult. He doesn't trust others as a rule, and for plenty good reason. He can be cordial to strangers when he needs to be, but just as easily he can be short, rude, and downright spiteful toward those he feels do not deserve his respect. He dislikes authority because in the past, authority has done nothing but hurt him or the people he loves. He doesn't consider anyone to really be above him in any sense of the word. In particular, he is perfectly fine with wasting the life of a former Nazi (and telling him they were 'just following orders' in the war is basically asking to be murdered in the most painful fashion possible). Appearance Erik is tall, lean, and probably a slight bit thinner than he really should be simply because he doesn't stop long enough to eat, let alone sleep. He has built up plenty of tone in his muscles from hard work and exercise, and stays in shape for the sake of being able to defend himself without the aid of metal if the need arises. He's fast on his feet and a decent swimmer, and his hand-to-hand skills are enough to win a fair fight on a good day. His hair is short, straight, and thick, typically combed back away from his eyes in a surprisingly neat fashion and a medium brown in color. For the most part his skin is pale and smooth, save for the few lines around his eyes and brow from prolonged scowling. The only other markings would be the tattoo on the inside of his left forearm of a uneven series of numbers (214782), a very much unwanted memento from his time in Auschwitz. His eyes are a grayish blue color, light but intense, framed by a series of long lashes and the beginnings of crows feet. Erik's attire can vary depending on the situation, but he prefers clothes that allow him to blend in. As such he tends to choose darker neutral colors, and articles that are both comfortable and practical. He owns at least one deep brown leather bomber coat, which he wears with almost everything. He will most days try to wear long sleeves in order to obscure the numbers on his arm. It isn't that he's ashamed more than he dislikes having people gawk or ask questions (and less chance for interaction). Relationships Charles Xavier: Erik's one true friend, the only person he trusts, and whom he feels some unrequited affection for. The two are presently sharing an apartment together. Randle McMurphy: Owner of the Bomb, where Erik works, and also the source of a lot of confusion and terror (mainly due to the fact that they look almost exactly alike). Grace: A young girl Erik met, whom he feels some brotherly affection toward, as she reminds him very much of his own deceased sister. Amanda Young: A woman he befriended, who shares a similar dark past to his. Remus Lupin: ? Emma Frost: ? Tony Stark: ? History Erik can barely remember his childhood. More accurately, the parts he clearly remembers are the painful parts. Born to a middle class Jewish family in Germany, he was among many who tried to and failed to escape the atrocities the Nazi's committed. While trying to flee, he--along with his mother, father, and younger sister--were captured and subsequently separated. As he reached out for his parents, willing the iron gates to open for him, they did something no one expected: they began to bend. He was knocked unconscious for his troubles, but the power did not escape notice. When he awoke, he was immediately brought to the office of a Klaus Schmidt, whom he understood to be some sort of scientists working with the Nazis. There, he was to make a choice: move the coin and demonstrate his abilities, or his mother would be shot and killed in front of him. As it turned out, attempting to concentrate on moving a coin while under pressure proved to be far too difficult for the boy; as Schmidt counted down from three, he began to panic, but could not move the coin. What did prove to be a powerful motivator instead was the anger he felt after witnessing his mother being shot and killed in front of him. Sure he might have damaged the entire office in the process of acting out his rage, but it pleased Schmidt at least. For the next few years, Erik spent his time split between Auschwitz and being taken away for experiments conducted by Schmidt and his cronies to test the limits of his abilities. With his family murdered (and the dismal atmosphere in general), he lost whatever innocence he had then, and yet his spirit was never broken. While testing his abilities and pushing him to the limits was good for testing in theory, reality proved how easy it was for Erik to escape once he had gained more control over his powers, particularly when what fueled them in the first place he was being supplied with quite easily--anger, remorse, and the deserve to exact revenge on his abusers. To this day, his one regret is not killing Shaw when he had a seemingly perfect chance, and instead fleeing the camps for neutral territory. After the end of the war, Erik spent the next few years planning. Schmidt went into hiding, and he didn't have as many resources as he would have liked. Past experience made it difficult to trust anyone, and his hatred for humanity had grown because of what Schmidt had put him through. It was entirely too easy to allow himself to slip into the role of murderer when he began tracking down former Nazi soldiers and picking them off one by one, hoping that one of them might be able to point him in the direction of the man he wanted dead the most. This was how he found himself in 1960, glaring at a yacht in Miami. Years and years had prepared him for this moment when he would finally kill Schmidt--or Shaw, as he was now called. He was prepared to die if it meant finally putting the man out of his misery, and very nearly did in his attempts to dismantle the ship while simultaneously drowning. When he least expected it, arms suddenly wrapped themselves tightly around his body and a voice entered his mind, pleading with him to stop before he killed himself. Up until Charles Xavier pulled him out of the water, Erik had always thought he was alone in the world. The telepath was quick to inform him that he was indeed not alone, and Charles quickly became the first friend he had in a long, long time. Despite conflicting viewpoints on many things--particularly where mutants and humans were concerned--he found he enjoyed their conversations, which was more than could be said for anyone else he had interacted with in his life. Through Charles, he met others like themselves--his sister Raven and a scientist named Hank, and soon others found through Cerebro. As thrilling as it was, finding all of these mutants and bringing them in for their fight against Shaw, he found himself worrying too. Now the CIA knew about their kind, what was to stop them from committing the exact same horrors he endured in his childhood? Rounding everyone up was the first step, after all. What he wasn't prepared for was the night he was ripped from his own world in his sleep, dragged by tendrils from his bed and through space until he ended up in a remarkable place he had no hopes of identifying... Pandora History